fajrdrako | Doctor Who: Utopia...

I watched yesterday's Doctor Who episode, "Utopia", when I got out of bed this morning, and then wandered around for a while in a happy fannish daze. I watched it again over brunch with

maaseru (who had already heard the whole story from an English friend) and

maaboroshi, who, to my delight, vocally appreciated the good bits.

Russell T. Davies didn't do me wrong, and I was right to have faith. I can't think of anything on the Jack/Doctor front that disappointed me - the banter and the mood, in fact, exceeded my expectations. I loved the tension between them; the impression (if I wasn't reading too much into it) that Jack, regardless of the awkwardness of the reunion, feels that he has found the Doctor again after 139 years of looking for him, and because of this can simply be himself again. And from the Doctor, the full weight of the awkwardness between them - some confusion, guilt, shame; irritation, trust, and ultimate fondness, all expressed in the offhand, manic/understated, Doctorly style. I loved it that Jack challenged him on his prejudice, and the Doctor acknowledged it, and discarded it.

In other words: the episode met my hopes, and better than I could have imagined. I expected a more rational reason for the Doctor's abandonment of Jack, and his avoidance of him. The irrationality of it is like a gift. This makes the problem between them an overwhelming obstacle which is instantly (and plausibly) overcome with a conversation, good heart, and some thought. Not a whim - it was made clear how deeply the Doctor's fear and horror went. Even a Time Lord can fear change, and be made to see when he has made an outstanding mistake in judgement.

I loved every reference to Rose: Jack finding out she was alive and hugging the Doctor; a beautiful echo of "The Parting of the Ways" when the same thing happened. The wonderful line when Martha learns Rose was a blonde. And best of all, another bonus that went above and beyond what I expected and hoped for, that with Jack the Doctor can be honest at last, as the Doctor puts aside his denial of Rose's unhappiness to be parted from him. At last he admits that she is trapped in the other world and can never come back, and with Jack, he can express mutual acknowledgment of the terrible grief of it.

And then so much of the episode was just plain fun. Them running from a horde of baddies, and Jack saying he'd missed that. The Doctor's irritation whenever Jack flirted with anyone - how can I help reading jealousy into that? - and Jack's aggrieved, "Can't I say 'hi' to anyone?" (Sure, Jack, just don't say it so enthusiastically.) The scene where Martha discovered the Doctor's hand in Jack's backpack - his 'Doctor detector', heh - and freaked. The whole conversation during the radiation scene - have I mentioned the radiation scene and how much I loved it? - and its sense of resolution of the Jack/Doctor tensions - unless I mean 'escalation' there, revival of the relationship at another stage. The Doctor's concern and the Doctor's smile.

I got what I wanted: Jack, on coming to understand his own immortality, comes to terms with it. At the end of time. And thanks to the Doctor, lets go of his death wish. Perfect, all of it.

What else? I've mumbled before about how I don't like Derek Jacobi's acting, but I loved it here. Loved his role. There was something of Bilbo Baggins about him, especially in the costuming, and the watch-fob that was also a clue to his nature and identity. The whole technological matrix made out of food. The absent-minded professor in a world that seemed alien to him. It would have been so easy to make that role simply hokey, but here it had a whole spectrum of resonances, including the implication that Professor Yana was a somewhat incomplete person, just as John Smith had been incomplete. I also loved the pretty insectoid assistant who loved him in direct parallel to Martha's relationship with the Doctor.¹

Particularly loved the way the whole theme of "Human Nature" and "A Family of Blood" was reused with the Master in the Doctor's role as a mortal, whose Time Lord self was in the watch, but he didn't know it and the watch was masked to him. Loved the way Martha was the only one who could have recognized it for what it was, and have told the Doctor.

I loved the way even some of the old sci-fi cliches, and Doctor Who traditions of the type I've disliked in the past, were used as a sort of tribute, just proving that if you take a hoary old cliché and polish it up and wear it with pride, it can be a thing of joy.

It was fun to see Creet, after meeting the actor on the Doctor Who Blue Peter special. He was great.

I loved the Doctor being shut out of his own TARDIS, and then using the sonic screwdriver to attack and sabotage it. It just shows how much I've fallen into the whole mythic glory of the show, that I found that heartbreaking.

I liked the John Simm as the Master being an evil manic echo of the Doctor.

I wish we'd glimpsed Jack, Martha and the Doctor in the trailer for next week. Oddly, I found myself less curious about what the Master will do on Earth in the 21st century, and more curious about Utopia - whatever or wherever it may be - a trap, a lure, a gateway, a new beginning?

And in the Confidential, I totally loved the scene of John Barrowman lying on his back on the ground in the rain, singing Singin' in the Rain.

~ ~ ~

¹ If I could advise Martha, I'd tell her to make an ally of Jack: his sexually-charged presence seemed to be a great catalyst for Rose's relationship with the Doctor. But, alas, Martha can't hear my advice.